The summer months have been incredibly dry for most of West Michigan, with some spots like Holland recording the driest summer (so far) on record. It doesn’t look like much improvement will be on the way from Mother Nature through the end of August, which is also the end of “meteorological summer”. It’s not much of a coincidence that it has also been a very hot summer, with almost all reporting locations in West Michigan exceeding the average number of 90 degree days.
Check out how far below average most of West Michigan is in terms of rain, as of Sunday, August 10:
Kalamazoo and Battle Creek both had above average rainfall from scattered showers and storms in July. Even though it’s been dry in August, the surplus in those locations continues due to how much rain was received in July! It’s the tale of the haves and have-nots in terms of rainfall across West Michigan.
The most recent drought monitor shows the lakeshore through 131 in level 2 “Moderate” drought, with parts of Ottawa and Allegan county around Holland in level 3 “Severe” drought. This makes sense given how dry these areas in particular have been over the last 2.5 months. The soils are drying out, vegetation is brown and crunchy, and there could be some longer term effects due to the duration of this drought.
Now, for what’s ahead…not much, in terms of rain. The medium-range outlooks for 6-10 days from now and 8-14 days from now don’t show a lot of hope for West Michigan.
While the Great Lakes region has some chances of rain this week with a cold front, the light green contour indicates low confidence of above average rainfall. Most of West Michigan is not even included in that contour, meaning there is an equal chance of above average or below average rainfall. This doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t get a single drop of rain (most of us will get some measurable rain this week); but overall during the time period of August 16 through 20, the chances of meaningful widespread rainfall are slim…